Crusaders
by zealian-amaranth
Summary: Ichigo subconsciously dreams of his family's past memories, yet with no idea of their relevance to himself. These dreams witness to the early life of a girl who just might be the cause of a strange phenomenon that has recently surfaced in the present.


Another rainy day. Once again, it was a time in which he found only complete boredom in the world of the living. Ichigo Kurosaki stretched lazily across his bed with no motive to move beneath the disheveled blankets, preferring to simply stare blankly at the ceiling.

Searching for an alternative means of directing his attention, he closed his eyes as he probed searchingly through his mind for that irritating yet attentive voice that lurked within the deepest recesses of his soul. Though their relationship was tenuous at best, at least he knew his Hollow would listen to whatever he had to say. A normal conversation was usually composed of Ichigo speaking for the most part while the Hollow merely voiced agreements or disagreements, occasionally offering a subject of which to build on. Ichigo didn't care for the rude comments and snide remarks that were often directed at either him or his capabilities, but at least his companion proved a good diversion from boredom.

Ever since he had released Zangetsu to roam the Soul Society freely on a daily basis, Ichigo only had his Hollow counterpart to keep him company. On rarer occasions, the Hollow was granted the same but for shorter periods of time, and even then only in the restrictions of his bedroom so that he could be face-to-face when they talked with one another. Now was not one of those times, he decided, but he reached in for the Hollow's presence nevertheless. The aching familiar pulse of their syncing heartbeats indicated that the Hollow had suddenly acknowledged him.

_King?_

"Who else would it be?" Ichigo snorted.

The Hollow was silent for several moments, then, _Something unusual has been stirring. I've felt it disrupting this atmosphere… the density is nearly overwhelming._

The Soul Reaper blinked. "Something in the inner world? Is that even possible?"

_Remember the rogue Zanpaku-to?_

"…Muramasa. I didn't think anything else could possibly enter after that incident."

_I've been seeing ropes of emerald Reishi wound inside the windows, but I can't even scratch them._

"Visible ropes? How did they get in there? I didn't even know those structures could be entered."

_On clearer nights I can detect a strong presence within the stars. A particular cluster shines brighter than the rest, but I can't detect a pattern among them. They must form a symbol that is effecting this Reishi phenomenon._

"Why hasn't old man Zangetsu informed me of it?"

_He doesn't see it. I've tried to show them to him, but he simply stares as if at nothing then turns to accuse me of fooling around._

"…Bring me inside. I wonder if I can see them."

The room was completely washed in shadows for a brief moment, then suddenly Ichigo found himself lying on one of the glass panels of the side-turned buildings. Hoisting himself to a sitting position, he made to stand but something was caught around his ankle. Glancing down, he noticed a glistening whipcord-thin vein of pure energy engulfing his entire foot.

"What the hell is this thing?" he muttered to himself.

"It's the condensed strings of Reishi particles," the distant-affected voice sounded behind him at his shoulder.

He glanced back at the Hollow. "You said you couldn't break them? Then how the hell am I supposed to get this thing off my foot?"

The grey-skinned Soul Reaper knelt beside Ichigo and examined the bindings. Experimentally, he pushed a finger beneath one cord and tried pulling it. After a slight resistance, the Reishi slid surprisingly easily into his hand. Absentmindedly touching the particles with his thumb, he looked closer at the liquid-like movement within the rope that squirmed through its length.

"Ichigo, whatever has created these is either brand new… or something very ancient that has been buried up until this point."

"There's probably good reason as to why it was buried then," the Soul Reaper hissed angrily as he pulled away the rest of his bondages. "These are too damn irritating to be of any consequential use."

"I meant the stars. They've always abounded across the skies, so what if this is something that has been waiting to be awoken again? There are plenty of phenomenon that have occurred during vertical alignments of the constellations. Perhaps this has happened before, very long ago."

"Your philosophical nonsense is quite annoying."

"As is your whining," the Hollow stated.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were mocking me."

"Perhaps I was."

Ichigo sat silently, deciding instead to direct his attention once again to the Reishi ropes that now lay beside him in a meaningless heap. "This day's been dragging for way too long. I'm going back home to get in my bed."

The Hollow ignored his statement.

Ichigo discovered that he couldn't easily fall asleep that night, so he rolled over onto his side and curled his legs behind him, trying once again as he closed his eyes. The minutes passed, but thankfully he eventually regressed into a fitful slumber. The dream that began to invade his mind was far beyond his comprehension. As of yet.

_Half caved in, the structure burned intensely as yet another beam gave way and the household further collapsed. Fire engulfed the entire estate, including the deceased beings within its walls. Several Soul Reapers waved their Zanpaku-to wildly in anger and shouted curses as their blades felled the final survivors who had managed to escape the blaze._

_Their screams morphed into joy once the last silver-clothed person fell into a crumpled heap, and they began singing that the Soul Society would now truly have peace with the powerful family gone. They were convinced that the fifth of the Great Families, the Kurosaki family, had been completely eradicated._

_Far off into the night, a lone couple ran ever south, breaths shallow and hearts pumping rapidly as they put as much distance between themselves and the Red Hollow gate as they could possibly manage under the cover of darkness. Once the sky lightened to sunrise, they would finally scope a place to rest, but until then all they could think to do was to run from the Soul Society. They were already well past the Rukongai, but that did not appease them even the slightest._

_They detected a slight tint above their heads, to which the man signaled for them to slow their pace. The woman sighed heavily and gratefully began to lazily lope across the roughened ground, careful on the loose rocks as she held a bundle tighter to her bosom for assurance. Her husband reached out for her arm and balanced her until she was finally beside him, then they both sank to their knees on a flat-faced patch of soil to recover their stamina._

_Unbeknownst to the dreamer, the youthful man's name was Isshin Kurosaki, and his wife whom he now held reassuringly was Miyuki, both reputable Soul Reapers until the Court Guard had discovered their rare genetic line of abilities and ordered their family be put to death. Though only an occasional incident to attain the family heritage, it was beyond the comprehensions of others and thus they were hated and feared amongst their fellow squadrons once rumors broke out that they were monsters._

_The couple had miraculously survived the massacre, and now they would leave to establish a new house life away from the Soul Society, determined never to return to the place that now loathed the very mentioning of their family name. Gone was the fifth Great Family, but now they could turn over a new leaf and live in a much more secure hometown. They pondered the idea of taking root in the world of the living and passing themselves off as ordinary people, and it would keep them out from underneath the scope of the Deputy Soul Reapers who would undoubtedly be regulating the Hollows wherever they settled._

_The woman's eyes suddenly brightened as she stared down at her child. A wisp of emerald could be detected just within the infant's fluttering eyelids as it stirred to wakefulness. Upon sighting its mother's lovely face, it gurgled happily and reached up tiny hands towards her. Miyuki smiled gently and began to bounce the baby girl carefully on her lap._

"_Do you think that we've been lenient in deciding a name?" she suggested to her husband._

_He leaned over the child and waggled a finger playfully, delighted when she seized it with her small hands and offered an open-mouthed smile of relish._

"_I still think Karin is a perfect name for her," he answered, repeating himself for the last of countless times._

"_No," his wife whined sympathetically. "It must be a stable name."_

"_Karin is a perfect name for a seemingly human child fitting into her society," he defended._

"_It has to be… I got it! She has the family's gene, so the name must fit for appeal. I decide that we name her Ryoko."_

Ichigo woke with a start, the dream still vivid and replaying in his mind as he lay silent and thought it over carefully. The dream had stressed much detail, yet he could not seem to recall any useful information other than physical appearances that were revealed to him. He wondered at who the couple could have possibly been, or if it were simply something due to his imagination. Only one piece of the pair's conversation still clung to his recollection, the two names mentioned: Karin and Ryoko.

He snorted with amusement at the coincidence that his younger sister's name had surfaced in his dream. Pushing the blankets down, he leaned over the side of the bed to glance at his clock. The flashing pixilated lights read 6:37 AM. A chain of yesterday's events reminded him that it was now Saturday, so he figured that he ought to go and wake his family for the day.

"Ichigo! I'm surprised that you actually bothered to show up," Renji remarked as his friend entered through the back door of Kisuke Urahara's store complex.

"I just had to drop off my sister at her soccer game, so I have the spare time," Ichigo replied.

"Well, if it isn't Ichigo!" Kisuke announced as he casually wandered into the room. "Care for any refreshments? You're covered in sweat."

"My dad has the car now, so I had to run here from the soccer field."

"There's some lemonade in on top of the fridge. Ginta wouldn't stop trying to get at it," Renji instantly offered.

"Yeah, thanks," Ichigo answered with a sigh and followed his comrade.

"By the way, Ichigo," Renji began.

"What is it?"

"Rukia stopped by earlier with some updates on the activity in Soul Society. Captain Ukitake and Captain Shunsui reported having seen the stars glow peculiarly several nights ago, and for some reason that disturbs the Head Captain. Would you have heard anything about it?"

"Actually… a friend of mine… told me he had seen the same thing last night."

"A friend?"

"Too long a story to explain. Don't ask."

"Oh," Renji murmured. "Did this friend say anything else about it?"

"He showed me something that's been appearing lately around his home. Look at it." Ichigo extended a hand from his jeans pocket and revealed a small lump of the emerald Reishi in the center of his palm. The liquidized center had now thickened into a hard gel, but the piece of rope still maintained its glittery appearance.

Eyes wide, Renji stooped over the object and warily poked at it. When nothing unnatural happened, he gingerly lifted it from Ichigo's hand and held it by one end, staring at the four-inch length piece of Reishi as if it would rear back and attack him.

"Uh… what is this thing, Ichigo?"

"Condensed Reishi particles. There are entire ropes of that back where I got it. They've invaded my friend's windows like weeds of ivy, and at first we couldn't so much as scratch them."

"And how did you get this piece?" Renji wondered.

"My… friend… is a bit more skilled than I am in manipulating his Reishi, so he knifed this off as a sample for me to bring to Soul Society. Actually, he doesn't know that that's what I'm planning to do with it, cause I wouldn't tell him the whole truth anyway."

"Some friend you are," Renji stated. "Who is this guy again?"

"That doesn't matter. Why are you so damn interested?" Ichigo snapped.

"Sheesh, sorry. Do you want me to take this to Soul Society right away?"

"I'm taking it myself!" Ichigo growled.

"There's no need to take it out on me!" Renji shot back. "But should I come with you?" he continued in a more moderate tone.

"Sure," Ichigo replied waspishly.


End file.
